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Ask a Yoga Instructor

This week, Bryn Chrisman, a vinyasa flow yoga teacher and kirtan leader in New York City, will be responding to readers’ questions about her path to yoga, her current job, her practice, kirtan and other matters of interest.

Readers who would like to ask Ms. Chrisman a question should do so in the comments box below. Her first set of responses will be published on the blog on Wednesday.

Responses

Ms. Chrisman has been practicing yoga for over a decade and teaching yoga full time since 2003 to both large studio classes and private individuals. Her teaching is deeply devotional, transportive and transformational. Fun, but far from frivolous, she is known for her entertaining personality and dropping unexpected and salient truths along the path of a creative and challenging asana class.

After graduation from Tulane University in 1998 with a dual major in economics and business, she joined the corporate ranks in Washington. Less than two years later, she moved to New York City to seek a job in fashion. After six months in a SoHo boutique, she discovered a yoga studio down the block from her apartment, and she knew instantly that she wanted to be a yoga teacher.

Since becoming a teacher, Ms. Chrisman has had the great karma of studying with many wonderful teachers, especially a musician named Jai Uttal, who through his example has taught her the most important yogic lessons about living her spiritual truth.

Now a senior instructor, Ms. Chrisman has taught several teacher training courses at the Laughing Lotus and leads frequent retreats in Mexico, Costa Rica, India, and throughout the world.

Dear Bryn,
I live in India and attend the regular yoga practice down the street at one of the many yoga centers in town (Chennai). It’s Hatha Yoga, and it is slow. Some days we do a lot of Surya Namaskar, but most days we do a mix of breathing, some Surya Namaskar, and some other asanas. I feel like I don’t get a good workout, though I certainly feel more peaceful and balanced. What do I need to do (here in Chennai where we probably don’t have the “fast” yoga of the West) to get a good aerobic workout?
Thanks

I recently injured my back and was diagnosed with bilateral facette hypertrophy in both the L4-L5 & L5-S1 levels. My doctor has presribed anti-inflammatory medications for me, but with only limited success.

I would like to know if you know any yoga exercises that might strengthen and stretch my core and lower back so that, hopefully, I can discontinue those medicines.

I have just really gotten into yoga in the last 6 months – practicing with teachers 2x per week and then dvds/podcats/etc at home. I love it and would really like to take my practice to the next level – but I’m not sure how…
Taking more classes is an obvious option but I want to get more out of them – learn the proper names, really understand the poses, anatomy of it…
Are the 200 hour teacher training classes just for people interested in teaching yoga? I’m not at that point and I wonder if I would be blown away by the skill level in those programs anyway.
Any advice?

To be a good yoga praticioner,how many hours in meditation is necessary?
Meditation is important in Yoga?
How many hours you recomend in meditation practice?
Is the purpose of Yoga train the body to reach
the mind or the body is the body and the mind
is the mind?
Respiratory exercise is important in Yoga?

How feasible is it to make a living as a full-time yoga instructor? Did you transition slowly from your former career? How long did it take you before you were supporting yourself by teaching yoga? Any advice/insights would be much appreciated.

Dear Bryn,
I started vinyasa yoga 10 years ago and fell in love with it.
SInce then, I have moved to an extremely rural location. There are no yoga classes nearby. ALthough I am not a ceritifed yoga instructor I have taught classes here for a few people who are interested.
I try to keep my own practice going but need some tips how how to keep myself motivated to practice by myself.
thanks,
Ruby

I have only just started doing yoga, about four months now, and am starting to feel discouraged because I cannot do some of the movements at all such as throwing one leg back during sun salutation and balancing on one foot in tree pose (those are the main two that bother me). Is there anything you recommend as a way to become more able to do these and others, since I do enjoy the practice and don’t want to stop out of frustration? Thank you very much.

Please describe an excercise that that takes energy through the third eye and ejects it from the navel. Or is it vice versa?
I saw this once on TV and while trying it my cat ran up and became extremely interested in my forehead.

I’m a newly minted yoga instructor in Chicago–just finished my teacher training in November. I’ve been teaching here and there. I started a class at my church at the beginning of January and am following up on a few other places to teach. Any advice on just starting out? What about liability insurance? Best way to get clients? Thank you.

I am an avid runner who hurt my lower back and have a strained hip. I started doing Yoga and now I am much better, but not quite back to running strength.. I am wondering what are specificially the best poses to gain strenghth in the lower back. Thank you.

Dear Bryn:
Since last few years I am suffering from Acute sciatica pain due to pinching of the nerve in lower back. I tried some yoga exercises as recommended by Baba Ramdev, but did not get any relief. The pain only comes back when I walk, otherwise I am fine. I would appreciate any advice you could please give me to get some relief. With kind regards.
—Gurnek
Syracuse, NY

Dear Bryn,
I am an office working male who sits in a chair for about 9 hours a day. As a result of the prolonged sitting (and my gender), I tend to have very tight hips and hamstrings which make a lot of advanced poses more difficult for me. What are some good beginners poses I can use to help open these areas for the more advanced postures? Also, do you currently teach in the city? If so, where can I find a list of your scheduled classes and retreats? Thanks!

Hi Bryn — Has yoga become too Westernized to have benefits? I’ve been practicing for 10 years here in New York and have been to 4 or 5 yoga studios — Iyengar, Intergral, Greenhouse to name a few. Often I feel like I’m at the gym or in a nightclub that plays trance music.

But I remember one very memorable class, and it was after I had returned from weekend meditation retreat. My experience of yoga was very different that day. Why is there barely any focus on yoga as a partner with meditation here in NY? I would love to know of a class that combined the two.

As a person which yoga is relatively unfamiliar besides seeing the occational yoga ball and a room with mirrors in the sports club I wanted to ask, what brought you into your first yoga session? What are some of the advatages a person who is athletic can get from a yoga session?

I’m a 51-year-old male college instructor. My other job is writing and recording music. Both are sedentary activities. In the last 10 years, I’ve gotten fat and my energy level has plummeted. Someone suggested yoga, but with so many different kinds of yoga, scores of different DVD courses, it’s hard to know where and how to begin. Can you help?

I have been practicing yoga for over twelve years, three times a week, and find that balancing poses are getting much harder to do. Is it age related (I am 79, male) and is there anything I can do to remedy this, or as an alternative?

I am a newbie to yoga and am looking for the correct yoga to practice. Im looking for a yoga that would help with flexibility. I tore my teres minor and went through months of rehab to alleviate the pain but I now need to improve my overall flexibility to limit injuries down the road.

Any help would be great…..

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